Emotiva XPA-3 Arrived!

comfortablycurt

CaligulaPolk wrote: »

my job is to......... recommend you some

Baby wipes?...lol...What am I supposed to do with those? I'm not sure if I want to know actually...in fact, don't tell me what I'm supposed to do with them, I don't want to know.:p;)




So Metal...gotten any more listening time in on the Emo yet? How are ya liking it? (attempt to get thread back on track...lol)

cfrizz

Metal, you described the benefits of external amplification perfectly. I noticed all the same things as you.

Now you see/HEAR why I recommend at least 200wpc. There is NEVER any doubt about hearing a difference. That is the whole point of getting that much.

Too many have come back from lower wattage saying they couldn't hear a difference & then figure that ext amps are a waste of money.

But if you spend the bucks & buy enough of it the first time around, there is no going back to just a receiver.

Congrats & enjoy!

LessisNevermore

metal83 wrote: »

Haha... Hopefully she doesn't somehow read this. Well actually, maybe that would be a good thing for you? lol..:p

I guess we'll know she did, if his screen name suddenly changes to castratedcurt

comfortablycurt

LessisNevermore wrote: »

I guess we'll know she did, if his screen name suddenly changes to castratedcurt

That would definitely be a good indicator...lol

Toolfan66

So Metal have you had time to tweek things a little? the AMP freaking rocks dude. i have been jamming everyday i get home. listening to Pantera right now, sounds awesome. i really havent played with the HT that much, been into the 2 channel. i love these towers man, and with the subs i just can't get enough. your setup looks great man. i agree on the entertainment center thats why i built one,just could not find one i liked when i went out to buy one. the one i built cost me $220 in materials. not bad really i have about 30 hours in it. i just wish my room was wider at the wall where i have it. but i have it sounding good. looking into room treatments a litlle bit right now anyway. im sure it will help clean up the sound some. glad your digging your system dude.

Larry.

metal83

comfortablycurt wrote: »

So Metal...gotten any more listening time in on the Emo yet? How are ya liking it? (attempt to get thread back on track...lol)

Loving it!

cfrizz wrote: »

Metal, you described the benefits of external amplification perfectly. I noticed all the same things as you.

Now you see/HEAR why I recommend at least 200wpc. There is NEVER any doubt about hearing a difference. That is the whole point of getting that much.

Too many have come back from lower wattage saying they couldn't hear a difference & then figure that ext amps are a waste of money.

But if you spend the bucks & buy enough of it the first time around, there is no going back to just a receiver.

Congrats & enjoy!

It was definitely well worth the money, i'm extremely happy i made the jump to seperates!

There's definitely no going back now, that's for sure!
Once you go amp, you stay in the camp! Corny, i know... lol


And thanks..:D

TOOLFORLIFEFAN wrote: »

So Metal have you had time to tweek things a little? the AMP freaking rocks dude. i have been jamming everyday i get home. listening to Pantera right now, sounds awesome. i really havent played with the HT that much, been into the 2 channel. i love these towers man, and with the subs i just can't get enough. your setup looks great man. i agree on the entertainment center thats why i built one,just could not find one i liked when i went out to buy one. the one i built cost me $220 in materials. not bad really i have about 30 hours in it. i just wish my room was wider at the wall where i have it. but i have it sounding good. looking into room treatments a litlle bit right now anyway. im sure it will help clean up the sound some. glad your digging your system dude.

Larry.

No, i haven't really had much time to tweak it, but i think the MCACC does a pretty good job. Having this amp is definitely a night and day difference compared to before, i'm a firm believer now!





For anyone on the fence about external amplification, just do it!!!!! :cool:

heiney9

cfrizz wrote: »

Metal, you described the benefits of external amplification perfectly. I noticed all the same things as you.

Now you see/HEAR why I recommend at least 200wpc. There is NEVER any doubt about hearing a difference. That is the whole point of getting that much.

Too many have come back from lower wattage saying they couldn't hear a difference & then figure that ext amps are a waste of money.

But if you spend the bucks & buy enough of it the first time around, there is no going back to just a receiver.

Congrats & enjoy!

There are exceptions you know . I just bought a new amp and it's 70 or so wpc less than my last amp. It's the most dynamic, most open, natural sounding amp I've heard in quite awhile (maybe ever). You could fry eggs on it and I'm sure my electric bill will increase by 15% or more..............but hey those are the sacrifices one must make for this hobby. (and no it's not tubes )

Whaddya think of that Ms. Frizz? You know I'm mostly messing with you and that in general your recommendation is a good rule of thumb, but specs and wpc aren't everything.

How's that new sub working out?

H9

Willow

I'd also agree as a general rule of thumb that 200Wpc is great. I noticed a big difference with my Marantz monos at 200wpc. Now with my new Rotel 1075 it's only rated at 120wpc, but I find the sound cleaner at all levels. I have not had the chance to crank it yet, might be on the to do list today.
I was reluctant to buy the Rotel for that reason of 80w less, but I am not regretting it now.

I also was going to buy the emo amp but as mentioned it's huge, and it's too long to fit in my cabinet.

Congrats on the Amp purchase.

metal83

So i've been testing out my whole setup a bit this morning. I was listening to some music, and ended up turning the volume up to -10. Wow, was that freakin loud! I think the people across the street heard it lol. I didn't keep it at -10 for long, because honestly i still worry a bit, but damn did that sound good, i wanted to go even louder with it!!!

I'll definetly have to pick up an SPL meter soon, so i can see what it's putting out.

Sami

heiney9 wrote: »

You could fry eggs on it

Let me guess, those watts are all A class?

parasomia

love it! I love it love it love it!!!!!!

Metal, isn't it awesome how you can turn that way up and everything sounds so fresh and awesome... and scary because you think you will blow the speakers! I've been keeping mine around that -20 mark as well. I doubt we have anything to worry about though.

Last night a couple friends came over to do some stuff. One of them is off to Afghanistan in a few months sooo it was a bit emotional. We rocked out to music, watched some of the Tenacious D- Complete MasterWorks 2, played the Resident Evil 5 and Killzone 2 demo's, annnddd we moved on to Nhl 09 and RockBand 2! It was a great night and damn if this amp and the Lsi9's just didn't take it all and make it AWESOME. Granted I'm only running two speakers right now but I can't believe how much I have been missing! What a brand new world I also love how prior to this, when I ran this klipsch pre-amp with its Klipsch HTIAB - I could turn the dB the whole way down to 0 and It still sucked... now at -20 it is rocking.

I would also love to say that after all those hours of running everything the Emo amp did not get hot at all. Warm, of course, but nothing near hot. God I love it. Right now I am listening to the Soundtrack from Final Fantasy 8 :P:P Just sounds so different, I love it. Yes I know this isn't just the amp, it is the Lsi9's showing me how sound SHOULD be. But you add it all together and it is simply.. Fresh.

\m/

heiney9

Sami wrote: »

Let me guess, those watts are all A class?

Yep (single ended 30 wpc). I'm loving it so far. If it gets this hot (which is totally normal) in the winter with my heat set at 68*; I can't imagine what it will be like in the summer when indoor ambient temp is around 80*+.

Touching the heatsinks for too long could probably leave a burn mark......well, maybe just be very very uncomfortable

H9

cfrizz

LOL! Enjoy your heater H9! Specs and wpc might not be everything, but having enough watts in todays HT arena certainly does make a huge improvement.

The new sub is working out great, I finally found the right place for music & I love the rattling during action scenes!!! I'm going to rewatch the Transformers this weekend.:D

heiney9 wrote: »

There are exceptions you know . I just bought a new amp and it's 70 or so wpc less than my last amp. It's the most dynamic, most open, natural sounding amp I've heard in quite awhile (maybe ever). You could fry eggs on it and I'm sure my electric bill will increase by 15% or more..............but hey those are the sacrifices one must make for this hobby. (and no it's not tubes )

Whaddya think of that Ms. Frizz? You know I'm mostly messing with you and that in general your recommendation is a good rule of thumb, but specs and wpc aren't everything.

How's that new sub working out?

H9

metal83

parasomia wrote: »

love it! I love it love it love it!!!!!!

Metal, isn't it awesome how you can turn that way up and everything sounds so fresh and awesome... and scary because you think you will blow the speakers! I've been keeping mine around that -20 mark as well. I doubt we have anything to worry about though.

Last night a couple friends came over to do some stuff. One of them is off to Afghanistan in a few months sooo it was a bit emotional. We rocked out to music, watched some of the Tenacious D- Complete MasterWorks 2, played the Resident Evil 5 and Killzone 2 demo's, annnddd we moved on to Nhl 09 and RockBand 2! It was a great night and damn if this amp and the Lsi9's just didn't take it all and make it AWESOME. Granted I'm only running two speakers right now but I can't believe how much I have been missing! What a brand new world I also love how prior to this, when I ran this klipsch pre-amp with its Klipsch HTIAB - I could turn the dB the whole way down to 0 and It still sucked... now at -20 it is rocking.

I would also love to say that after all those hours of running everything the Emo amp did not get hot at all. Warm, of course, but nothing near hot. God I love it. Right now I am listening to the Soundtrack from Final Fantasy 8 :P:P Just sounds so different, I love it. Yes I know this isn't just the amp, it is the Lsi9's showing me how sound SHOULD be. But you add it all together and it is simply.. Fresh.

\m/

It's definitely awesome man, i agree 100% and feel the exact same way.
Money well spent!

leroyjr1

Do emotiva amps have clipping/distortion lights?

mmadden28

The XPA's do. At the extremes of the LED meters, they are red. Each red LED represents some level of clipping. I'll see if I can find that reference.

leroyjr1

Have you ever clipped yours?

metal83

I've had the volume up to -10 without the red distortion/clipping lights coming on, makes me wonder how much louder i can go. I surely do not want to see those red lights lit up though.

leroyjr1

I cranked my rti a9's once when I got them to see what kind of SPL reading I would get.

metal83

leroyjr1 wrote: »

I cranked my rti a9's once when I got them to see what kind of SPL reading I would get.

How loud did you get them?

leroyjr1

metal83 wrote: »

How loud did you get them?

Can't remember exactly what it was but I think it was around 115ish db

Dawgfish

Even though I knew I was taking a risk, I ran my RTi 12s at +15 for a good 10 to 15 minutes with the XPA-3 just to see what it would do and the red clip indicators never came on. The sound remained crystal clear and LOUD. I listen for distortion on the high frequencies. When the hihats and crashes start distorting (I'm a drummer, I listen for that suff) and you start hearing words being slurred, or the dreaded schsss, or pistsss, or tsss I know it's time to back off before I blow a tweet. Even at this level, I never heard any of this. The speakers and amps kept their composure the whole time, and BTW the amp remained lukewarm to the touch. I was super impressed! My Marsh amp would get much hotter at lower volume settings and would definitely start to distort before I got to this level.

I'm not saying Y'all should try this at home, because I could have easily blown something, but I had a few beverages and said "s***w it, let's see what this baby can do." I was in sonic heaven and my componets survived to tell about it.

Toolfan66

I hooked up some Audioquest Diamondbacks yesterday,i could not be more happy, i was hitting the -10db -9db -8db,and i still could go more with with no distortion. but like metal i only was there for a few seconds. was worried i would hurt something,and it was very loud. not sure if i will push them that hard again,but with the monster RCA's i could not push them that high with ease. the AQ's made such an improvment. looking forward to try out the MIT's i am getting from Greg.

Larry.

metal83

TOOLFORLIFEFAN wrote: »

I hooked up some Audioquest Diamondbacks yesterday,i could not be more happy, i was hitting the -10db -9db -8db,and i still could go more with with no distortion. but like metal i only was there for a few seconds. was worried i would hurt something,and it was very loud. not sure if i will push them that hard again,but with the monster RCA's i could not push them that high with ease. the AQ's made such an improvment. looking forward to try out the MIT's i am getting from Greg.

Larry.

You're going to love those MIT IC's. I'm very happy i bought them along with the MIT AVt-2 speaker cables, well worth it!

Ron Temple

Hey guys here's an SPL/watts calculator that might interest you. There's another one on Crown's website that's pretty interesting too.

http://myhometheater.homestead.com/splcalculator.html#anchor_13193

mmadden28

mmadden28 wrote: »

The XPA's do. At the extremes of the LED meters, they are red. Each red LED represents some level of clipping. I'll see if I can find that reference.

I have to partially retract my statement above, I got confused a bit as I have an XPA-5, an XPA-2 and a pair of XPA-1's.

My XPA-5 does not have a clipping LED, but the blue static LEDs will blink red if the amp goes into protection. The channel that caused the issue will be the one that blinks red. I don't know what actually triggers the protection to kick in. Likely more info on this at the EmotivaLounge forum.

The XPA-2 and XPA-1s do have level meters, and at the extreme ends of them they have red LEDs. These do show clipping levels.

Here is the reference I was looking for-it's a quote from an Emo forum user on what he was told about the LEDs (XPA-1 or 2)

the first red LED is a warning that clipping is near, the second is at the onset of clipping (not dangerous to your speakers,) the third is 1% clipping, the 4th 10%

Here is a link to the duscussion thread on the topic. I know its not for the XPA-3 but...

leroyjr1

Mmadden28

Where's the xpa 1 review. Have you had a chance to give them a workout?

Falcon01

cfrizz wrote: »

Now you see/HEAR why I recommend at least 200wpc. There is NEVER any doubt about hearing a difference. That is the whole point of getting that much.

Cfrizz, I have a pair of Paradigm Monitor 7's and the matching centre channel. The specs for the Monitor 7's state...

Suitable Amplifier
Power Range 15 - 180 watts
Maximum Input Power† 130 watts

Currently I have a 5.1 setup (I have Polk RTI4's in the back which are rated at 125 watts) and MAY go to 7.1 down the road but not for at least a year or two. I'm currently using a Yamaha 5740 receiver and to be honest I am not even close to being impressed with the sound, especially in the low end. I have a Velodyne DPS-12 sub which should be fine but the receiver doesn't seem to be able to produce really low end sound.

ANYWAY, my question to you or anyone else that wants to chime in is (yes you too Bigred )...will the UPA-7 (rated at 125 watts, all channles driven) be enough? Or should I get an XPA-5 for now and then IF I do go 7.1 just add an XPA-2? I'm thinking the XPA route might be overkill for my setup and I rarely go to -15 on the Yamaha receiver but I really want the clean sound and the low ends that I know I'm missing.

Thanks in advance for your input.

mmadden28

leroyjr1 wrote: »

Mmadden28

Where's the xpa 1 review. Have you had a chance to give them a workout?

I'm trying to do too much in life and not getting anywhere. I got them when I did to ensure I got them during the sale. Just wasn't ready to play.

2 ch rig is on the backburner for a bit until I finish getting my house in order. I'm kinda concentrating on my new ded. HT setup right now when I can. So I'm cleaning out the room that I had all the boxes for all the audio stuff I bought last year into the attic. The wife is NOT HAPPY that we had to make so many trips-its kinda an eye opener for her to see how much I bought-it is easy to sneak a component in here or there but not so easy to hide all the boxes. Soooo needless to say, I'm kind of in the doghouse at the moment and at her mercy for getting stuff around the house done now (and she means now :eek:).

I'll get there eventually. Hopefully sooner than later.

cfrizz

Welcome Falcon.

1. There is NO such thing as overkill when it comes to powering speakers!:D

Having 200wpc or in my case 405wpc does not mean that that is what the amp is giving you all the time. It means that when you are listening to very dynamic music or watching oh....the Transformers movie that when the explosions come & things go BOOM you will have all the power & head room you will need so that you don't risk putting your receiver into protect mode or clipping or frying one of your drivers or tweeters.

It ensures that whether at high volume or low volume your speakers will operate to their full potential at all times. You will hear EVERYTHING that was put on the disc to be heard. The speakers will take what they need & no more & you will have in place a piece of gear that will have it to give them whenever they need it.

So, get the XPA amp. because that way if you ever change speakers to a harder to drive kind like the LSI's you will already have the power in place to handle them.

If you do it once the right way, you won't have to do it again later on down the line, thereby spending money twice since the amp will be with you no matter what other gear or speakers you get.:)

Just make sure that your receiver has the preouts necessary to hook up a separate amp.

Falcon01 wrote: »

Cfrizz, I have a pair of Paradigm Monitor 7's and the matching centre channel. The specs for the Monitor 7's state...

Suitable Amplifier
Power Range 15 - 180 watts
Maximum Input Power† 130 watts

Currently I have a 5.1 setup (I have Polk RTI4's in the back which are rated at 125 watts) and MAY go to 7.1 down the road but not for at least a year or two. I'm currently using a Yamaha 5740 receiver and to be honest I am not even close to being impressed with the sound, especially in the low end. I have a Velodyne DPS-12 sub which should be fine but the receiver doesn't seem to be able to produce really low end sound.

ANYWAY, my question to you or anyone else that wants to chime in is (yes you too Bigred )...will the UPA-7 (rated at 125 watts, all channles driven) be enough? Or should I get an XPA-5 for now and then IF I do go 7.1 just add an XPA-2? I'm thinking the XPA route might be overkill for my setup and I rarely go to -15 on the Yamaha receiver but I really want the clean sound and the low ends that I know I'm missing.

Thanks in advance for your input.